Santa Sets Sail
The above gallery contains photos from the kitsap sun newspaper, who have dutifully assisted and chronicled the travels and travails of the christmas ship for 72 years!
If you’re looking for links to the yacht clubs to submit greetings or tell them what a wonderful job they’ve done, here they are:
I’m about to release the Christmas episode, it’s uploading as I type this. I hope everyone enjoys listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it. I can’t wait to go see the christmas ships this weekend! Here’s the script from the episode. I will work on getting all the footnotes updated, probably leisurely, through the end of the year. Bremelore wishes you a merry christmas, and the happiest of new years.
Christmas Ships
It seems there are never enough christmas lights to combat the long, dark nights of december. I hung Christmas lights on my house for the first time this year and as I was setting up the timer, I realized it was already dark enough at 4:30 to throw the switch. I'm pleased with the fruits of my labor. It's no candy cane lane but it brings me joy each time I see it. I hope everyone who drives by it appreciates my small offering of seasonal joy. but what if I told you, instead of driving around in search of beautiful Christmas light displays, that the lights might come to you?
This year, I’d like to bring you a little history of Christmas on the water.
Have you ever heard of The Christmas Ship? While working on this episode I came across all kinds of Christmas ships. there were the wartime humanitarian aid campaigns to bring presents to war orphans of world wars. Those ships sailed in 1913 and 1947. well, 1948. They left a little late. There was also reference to Santa coming to Bremerton on the good ship lollypop with his friend Joey the clown as part of the annual shell Christmas show in 1940. I tried to find out more about what this is. There are a lot of west coast small town newspapers announcing that the shell christmas show is coming to town. One of them even said it was a decade long tradition. It seems to have been a parade that included clowns and magicians and of course, Santa Claus, sponsored by shell. yes, that shell. By 1920 they were the largest producer of oil in the world and were one of the “seven sisters” that dominated the oil and gas industry into the 1970’s.
In 1941, Seattle held its first Christmas ship parade. but, it was in the middle of a ww2 blackout, so the ships could have no lights on them. This is referenced in a book I don't have a copy of but is footnoted and is actually contradicted by Argosy Cruises in Seattle, who runs the official christmas ship now. They say the first christmas ship actually ran in 1949. and Someone in Bremerton must have seen it because in 1950, the bremerton yacht club pitched in to sponsor the seattle christmas ship, taking a trip to bremerton. They must have loved it because in 1951 the bremerton yacht club had their inaugural christmas ship.
The first Bremerton christmas ship was the Donolie, owned by Ray hart. She spent 5 nights cruising the shoreline, lit up and playing Christmas music. folks who caught sight of the donolie blinked their house lights in acknowledgement and many called the yacht club to deliver compliments.
Mr. Ray Hart continues to lead the charge in the earliest years, usually sailing The Donolie. In 1952 he added a giant illuminated santa to the crew. In ‘53 he hangs an 8ft tall silver star on top of the boat.
In 1954 the yacht club started taking requests. People could call in and ask that Santa greet their kids by name, and give their rough location on the route and what time the boat should be there, per the printed schedule in the sun newspaper. Santa also made a very special stop that year to honor a couple that was celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, which is 25 years.
In 1955 Ray Hart, now sailing The Sumarlee, soldiered on through the snow, dressed as Santa and calling out greetings. A second ship called The Pink Lady accompanied him adorned with a star. This might have been the first Rudolph ship. As you can imagine, sailing at night and inclement weather can be dangerous. Just like headlights, Christmas lights reflect off of fog making visibility difficult. Another ship often accompanies the Santa ship, minimally or completely undecorated, to help guide Santa's sleigh ship through the night.
mr. hart is quoted in the sun as saying
“It looked as if every house house blinked it's lights back at us, and we could hear the kids on the shore shouting “merry christmas!”
In 1956 the Sumarlee’s 62 feet were well decorated by a spotlighted santa clause scene.14 150-watt lights were mounted on the outriggers, powered by two generators, totaling 3,250 watts.
Bing Crosby is the music of choice, cruising at a speed of 3 knots, though the yacht is capable of 14 knots at full power thanks to twin diesel motors. it must have been LOUD on that boat.
‘57 is a bit of a rough year for santa. The weather is bad and the yacht club is overwhelmed by calls. they borrow gennies from the city and carry on. The next year they stopped taking phone calls and asked parents to mail in postcards with locations for Santa greetings. This works a little better. people start clipping the hand drawn route maps and schedules out of the sun newspaper and mail those in too. the sun starts printing a little fill-in slip alongside the map. These giant maps take at least half a page, often a whole page. That’s a big deal in the newspaper days!
In ‘58, the yacht club estimates 6000 people came to see the christmas ship along its 200 mile journey. Sometimes routes get canceled for heavy fog but they always circle back if they can.
The 60’s are a wild decade for the Christmas ship. In 1961, Santa got a special treat. a group of carolers gather on a porch and wait for him, to sing HIM caroles! but in ‘62 he got a trick. The headline reads “santa attacked at agate pass bridge!” and states that someone purposely threw a heavy flashlight from the agate pass bridge as Santa was passing under it, nearly hitting him.
‘65 is also a bad year for santa. The Christmas ship takes on water during rough seas and the lights short out.
After that, the yacht club brought together a large volunteer effort in 1967. The 40 ft cruiser Emmeline is bedecked with 200 lights on her port side, wooden cutouts of santa and reindeer. Rudolph even had a light up nose! Each night, the crew mounts a 6ft star to the mast, 20 ft above the waterline. Overall, 150 man hours are spent to decorate the ship, all volunteer. PSNS loans one of the generators to power the lights.
1968 sees a beautiful midship display of santa playing a large golden pipe organ, an 8 ft star, lighted candles and christmas trees but heavy rain shorted out the lights near Rocky point.
In the 70’s, other yacht clubs started to get in on the fun. Poulsbo and Port Orchard yacht clubs start launching their own respective christmas ships. During the holiday season in 1973, America suffered a gas shortage due to oil embargos in the middle east. Bremerton yacht club voted unanimously to continue having the christmas ship and everyone donated to the gas pool from their own recreational fuel. Routes were condensed and the days were limited to make it happen. There was a strong outgoing tide that year so Santa spent extra time at the evergreen park dock, giving every child there a greeting.
The three yacht clubs continued sending out Christmas ships through the 70’s.
In 1975 the lusty lady was Santa's flagship, oh my. I wonder what Miss Claus thought about that!
In 1976, riding the second wave of feminism, the truth came out. Santa is a woman! It turns out that the man playing Santa needs to be in the boat cabin operating the loudspeaker to deliver greetings, so the santa standing on deck is usually someone’s wife wearing the suit and beard.
and it wouldn’t be the 70’s without some questionable food, so I should probably tell you they served pickled knackwurst aboard ship in 77 and it was so good, the sun printed the recipe in 78.
In the 1980’s, the Christmas ship started to evolve into the lighted ship parade that you may be familiar with today. Whole christmas fleets set sail with Santa at the lead and of course, rudolph clearing the way.
in 1981, santa bids good night to rich passage, which is the waterway between bainbridge and manchester
..but the loudspeaker makes it sound like rich bastards. Well, he’s not exactly wrong.
Bremerton yacht club also participated in their first special people cruise in oyster bay in the 80’s.
When we reach the 90’s, it seems like wherever there’s a yacht club, there’s a christmas ship or a lighted parade. sometimes as many as 20 or 30 boats participate. People who live on the water hold viewing parties to watch the parade go by. Every year without fail, the sun prints the scheduled routes.
In the oughts, worry increases about the abandoned boats littering the shoreline and in ostrich bay. the yacht club says not to be worried, they would give it a wide berth. At some point they started selling tickets to ride on the boats in the parade, and had scheduled entertainment and snacks for the occasion.
and guess what?! The Christmas ships are still sailing to this day. In fact, Santa is sailing this weekend. The Bremerton yacht club Santa will be setting sail on December 15th and 16th at about 6pm. You can get greetings in until 5pm the day before each sailing, if you visit bremertonyachtclub.org
and the port orchard parade will be setting sail on December 16th at a quarter to 5, weather permitting. They will be accepting greeting requests until dec 15th at their website poyc.org
Kingston isn’t running a ship or parade anymore but they usually put a stunning light show at the marina that is definitely worth seeing.
If you’re keeping track, that makes 72 years of the christmas ship. If that doesn’t count as a Bremerton Christmas Tradition, I don’t know what does. So, if you see the christmas ships go by, flicker your lights for them! Ring bells for them! Let them know that they are loved, so that they continue to bring us this beautiful tradition for another 72 years to come.
Biblio
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_ships
Doris Baines, Christmas: Traditions and Legends. 1997, p. 156.
https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/category/1980
“Santa Claus Will Arrive” Casa Grande Dispatch, 11/29/1940, page 7
Santa cruz sentinel, 12/15/1940, page 2
“shell christmas show to cheer kiddies here" roseville tribune, 12/4/1940, page 1
NEVADA STATE JOURNAL 12/4/1940 page 2
placer herald 12/7/1940 page 1
the eugene guard, 11/18/1940 p5
medford mail tribune, 11/29/1939, pg8
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrah!_Hurrah_for_the_Christmas_Ship
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_plc
https://www.argosycruises.com/meetusmonday-christmas-ship-festival/
50+ different editions of The Kitsap Sun. The list would be longer than my christmas script. I… will work on it.